He has already taken official visits to Notre Dame and Wisconsin, and is still in the process of finding a suitable date to take a trip out to Palo Alto.

"I'm still working on it," Allen said. "I think it's pretty up in the air still."

Given that Allen attends high school in Eastern Minnesota, close to the Midwest schools he is considering, the Stanford visit figures to play a big role in Allen deciding if he feels comfortable enough to commit to a school so far away from home.

"I've never been out at Stanford, but I'm hoping when I take my official it's some place where I'm comfortable," Allen said.

In addition, Allen hopes to learn more about the men who comprise the Cardinal football team.

"One that's really important to me is kind of like the guys that are on the team and who I'll be hanging out with and whether or not they're good guys and they're like me," said Allen, who also listed academics and winning as factors in his decision.

That decision, however, likely won't come until sometime in December at the earliest, in large part due to the successful play of Allen's Minnetonka high school team.

The Skippers are 8-3 despite dropping their most recent contest to Eden Prairie, and look strong heading into the playoffs. Combine that with Allen's desire to take all of his visits before committing, and it doesn't look like anything is imminent within his recruitment.

"I'm kind of thinking after my season sometime in December but that's still kind of vague," Allen said. "I want to get all of my officials in, I guess is what I mean."

In the meantime, Allen will try to enjoy his senior year both on and off the field, but also spend some time on the Stanford application.

"I'm still working on the application, but I have a couple of my essays done and they think I'll be able to get in," Allen said. "I have good grades right now, so I'm not really too worried about that."

Allen said he scored a 28 on the ACT and has a 3.5 unweighted GPA.

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